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Wednesday, January 27, 2010

After the weekends activities it was time to go get some dinner and beers. We went to a small restaurant in Seal Beach and ended up afterwards at a sports bar near Keevo's house shooting pool. A great way to end a weekend. Than it was time for a 12 hour drive back to Rico come Monday morning.

After the hard effort on Saturday in Temecula for the 12 hour race it was time for a nice and easy 50 miler down the PCH from Huntington Beach to Laguna and back with Keevo and Heidi. Roadies were everywhere. And with the recent week long rain fest I'm sure everyone was itching to hit the road in SoCal.

And after our 3 hour road ride it was time for an easy 30 minute run in the local park near Keevo's house. It wasn't so easy. Thanks you two!

Wow, what an adventure this past weekend. I was hell bent to drive to SoCal to race the 12 Hours of Temecula and had to drive through one of the worst storms I have experienced in some time. It was pretty dangerous at times with the white out snow conditions and wind. I ended up making it to Kingman on Thursday evening just before ADOT closed down Interstate 40 for the night. That was 9 hours of driving at this point.I was now hoping the rain and wind would subside going into Friday for the race on Saturday. Turned out the drive from Kingman to LA wasn't so bad. The rain and wind were on and off all morning and when I arrived in the Huntington Beach area around noon it was raining steady. The forecast going into Saturday for Temecula wasn't looking so good. Rain/snow into the early morning was called for. I kept my positive attitude hoping it would break sooner. By late afternoon on Friday; Keevin, and the boys from Vegas (Hileman and Pace) had thrown in the towel for making it out. Also out was Matt Turgeon, from Durango, whom had called it on Thursday with all the snow coming down in the four corners area. Me; I was on a mission. Saturday morning came fast and at 5am I woke up at Keevin's house, looked at the forecast for Temecula, and the weather had blown through and clear skies were being called for. I drove into Temecula looking at clear/partly cloudy skies. It was going to be a good day after all weather wise. Now to see what the course looked like with rain all week drenching the area. After arriving at the Vail Lake the trail didn't look so bad. Pretty sandy conditions with clay in spots. The racers were piling in as the morning progressed before start time. I had not one person I knew at the race and set up my truck on the trail to self support myself. I had everything dialed in for a long day on the bike. The first lap of the race wasn't bad; a little wet and loamy but not bad for many of inches of rain falling on the course. As the race progressed the course became slower and slower with the loamy conditions and the moisture wicking up to the surface. Definitely a leg zapper on the climbs on the single speed. Turned out to be 15 solo single speeders in my class. I took off at the start and led for the majority of the race until lap 10. During the first few laps there was 3 or 4 of us pretty close together and I had only minutes leading mid way of the race. I just kept pushing hard and skipped my pit a couple of times to try to increase my lead. By lap 7/8 I was in front by only 6 minutes and just kept pushing hard. Lap 10 is when I started to fall apart. The train was coming detached. On a hike-a-bike section one of the guys had caught up to me and passed me. At this point I could not get my heart rate up and I had to let him go. I was bummed to not be able to chase on but it happens and I held on for 2nd place overall in the solo single speed class. My plan before this juncture was to keep going and if I had gotten to the start/finish without anybody passing me I would have went for an 11th lap but I had no gas to chase this guy so he ended up going for an 11th lap with us only a minute apart going through the transition. But like I said I had no gas to go and decided to stop and settle with 2nd place. A great battle all day with these guys. I'm feeling pretty confident going into the 2010 season with an early season podium for sure. Look out Old Pueblo!!

Saturday, January 16, 2010

Went with a group of riders from the local Cortez/Dolores area for a road ride today up in Mesa Verde National Park. What a great ride. Lots of climbing and great views all over. Myself, Terry Gorsuch, Jeff Fox, Paul Adams, Shawn Gregory and Kiviok Hight made the ride today and it was a hammer fest. My legs were pretty tired on the way back to the truck. Too much activity lately and not giving myself a rest at all. Need to taper off this week for the 12 hour race in Temecula.

My Dean Ti road bike. My only geared bike and it is a blast to ride. Mostly it sits in my bike room (my man land) and sees roller time.

Thursday, January 14, 2010

One nice advantage of living in a small mountain town with a river is it is so easy to take the dogs out and not see a single person. Took the three dogs along the Dolores River for a short run and me on my running snowshoes.

Saturday, January 9, 2010

Had a chance to xc ski Lizard Head pass twice this week. It's about a 5 mile plus course out and back. Once with Esteban, a local in Rico, a hoss on xc skis as well as on a mountain bike and a hell of a long distance runner. He completed the Leadville double; 100 mile mtb race and a 100 mile run. We pushed hard for nearly 1 1/2 hours. The Ay-UP lights with the headband have been ideal for all of my after work adventures.

Sunday, January 3, 2010

Not a great way to start your Sunday. While I was getting ready for my road ride the call came in for a one car accident. Duty calls when you are a small town fire fighter. Luckily the driver wasn't hurt to the point for a heli ride but required some serious medical attention. Pay attention to the road people as I don't want to be extricating you out of your vehicle.

A new year is amongst us and that means a new year of training and racing. Next race is closing in on me already.....January 23rd is the next SoCal endurance 12 hour race in Temecula, CA.

With the full moon on New Year's eve Laura and I took the opportunity to enjoy the moon and go up to Lizard Head Pass to xc ski. Laura's friend Amanda and her daggy Tess joined in on the fun as well. Frigid cold at around 0 degrees. We skied for 2 hours and headed back to Rico around 11.30pm and stopped in at the Enterprise Bar for some drinks and ended staying out until 3.30am. What a long day.

Saturday my bro-in-law and I went out for a skin above the house on our tele skis. What a perfect day. We were out for 4 hours with 1600 feet of climbing. Didn't bring the avalanche beacons or probes so we didn't get a chance to ski the big avalanche chute we crossed...next time.